


first choice

by jenma



Category: Choices: High School Story: Class Act (Visual Novel), Choices: My Two First Loves (Visual Novel), High School Story (Visual Novel), My Two First Loves (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:33:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26285743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenma/pseuds/jenma
Summary: after the fiasco at the homecoming dance, emma decides what she really needs to do is focus on herself and figuring out what she wants. and so she transfers to berry high. my two first loves, featuring noah harris x mc.
Relationships: Noah Harris/Main Character (My Two First Loves)
Kudos: 9





	1. part 1

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write something where MTFL mc puts herself first rather than getting wrapped up in relationships but still ends up with noah. i hope you enjoy! i may or may not write a part 2 depending on interest, which would include the closure for mason, results of the contest, college acceptances, prom, first “I love you,” and leaving for college. *heads up: there is a reference to both HSS and ROD :) i couldn’t help myself! accompanying photos are on the fic posted on tumblr (@peaceinmindstofchaos)  
> copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios.  
> series/pairing: my two first loves - noah harris x mc  
> rating/warnings: PG; some teen angst  
> word count: 3,216  
> based on/prompt: n/a

**_first choice (part 1)_ **

emma sat on her bed with her legs crossed and laptop open. she was almost done with her application. all that was left to do was pick her potentially award-winning photograph from the two she had narrowed it down to. she couldn’t help but smile at the memories associated with each picture, back when things were definitely more exciting and drama-filled.

_12 weeks earlier_

mason parked outside emma’s house. the lights were on, so emma knew she only had a few minutes before her dad would inevitably walk outside and see she was sitting in a car alone with a boy. she felt like she was on an emotional rollercoaster and bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from just breaking down into tears.

“you keep saying nothing’s changed, but everything changed when you started dating ava and when she needed to come first instead of me. i deserve to find happiness for myself too,” emma said, blinking rapidly to hold back tears.

“and you think that’s going to be with noah? he’s not a good person,” mason replied, the grip on his steering wheel tightening so much that emma could see the vein bulge on his right hand.

the part of her that was in love with mason desperately clung on to his words and attempted to convince herself it was jealousy, that mason wasn’t in love with ava and wanted to be with _her_. but the part of her that always tried to be rational scolded her instead to accept that mason had always seen her as a sister and was just being protective.

“noah’s been good to _me_ and that should be enough. you don’t get a say in who i date, mason. not since you and ava started dating without giving me a heads up,” emma said after a moment and opened the car door.

_8 weeks earlier_

dave price read the piece of paper in his trembling hands, and then re-read it again. he read it a third time, just to make sure his understanding was correct. the words “ _accepted,” “transfer,” and “welcome”_ kept swirling around and he finally looked up from the paper to his daughter who was wringing her hands nervously and biting her lip.

“i just don’t understand why, or how, or when…?” he trailed off, looking back down at the paper again.

emma inwardly reminded herself it was too early to celebrate even though her dad’s initial reaction to the news was much better than expected. she would take confused over angry any day. she moved to sit down on the living room couch, motioning for her dad to sit down next to her. she grabbed the photo binder sitting on the coffee table and handed it to her dad.

“i realized that i haven’t really been thinking about my future or what i want to do after high school. i’ve been so focused on following in mom’s footsteps with cheerleading that i’ve ignored things i could be passionate about, things that make me my own person,” she started slowly, watching her dad’s face closely as he flipped through the binders.

“until recently, i forgot how much i love photography. after mom died, it was too painful to think about. i helped take some yearbook photos earlier this year and realized how much i missed it. i don’t want to cheer anymore, but i _do_ want to pursue photography. eastridge doesn’t have a great arts curriculum but berry high _does_ ,” emma started talking more animatedly about the arts programs at berry high and the how arts are integrated with extracurriculars and school activities. mr. price looked on at emma, stunned. he couldn’t remember a time since his wife died where emma was this excited.

mr. price looked back down at the acceptance letter in his hand. emma continued softly, “i just looked into their transfer requirements to see if they would accept my credits and let me join the arts program. i think this could be the fresh start i need to figure out my own path.”

“your mother wanted to do the same thing when she was your age. and these photos are absolutely beautiful, emma. you have a real talent. go ahead and transfer,” mr. price said, giving his daughter a hug.

_4 weeks earlier_

every time he heard the bell that signaled someone opened the door to the diner, mason looked up, tense. and every time it wasn’t emma, his gaze dropped and he tried to take a deep breath. when it finally was emma, his gaze searched her face for some sort of clue as to how she was feeling.

emma could feel mason’s eyes on her as soon as she walked into the diner. she walked over to the booth before sitting down across from him, pausing for a moment to take in his appearance. a purple bruise had formed on his cheek and there were bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept the last couple of days. to be fair, emma hadn’t really slept much since the homecoming dance either. regardless, mason looked as gorgeous as ever in his gray sweater, which brought out the blue of his eyes that emma had loved staring into for as long as she could remember.

mason nervously cleared his throat. “thanks for coming, emma. i’m really sorry for what happened at the dance,” he said, taking emma’s hand with both of his on top of the table. “i didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“what are you sorry for, mason? crashing my date twice or getting into a fight with noah twice in one night?” emma asked sarcastically. mason flinched slightly at her tone. “you weren’t interested in me until after i started hanging out with noah. what happened between the two of you?” emma said.

mason dropped his gaze and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. “that’s not true, em. i’ve had a crush on you for a long time, i just wasn’t sure if you’d ever see me as more than just your best friend and i spent all summer trying to forget my feelings so i wouldn’t ruin our friendship. as for noah, it’s… complicated.”

“is that all you have to say?” emma pulled her hand out of mason’s grasp and crossed her arms over her chest.

“is this because of noah? if he hadn’t come back this year, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. this is not how i imagined senior year going with you,” mason said, his tone bitter and defensive.

emma’s eyes narrowed. “this has _nothing_ to do with noah. you want to talk about how senior year was supposed to go? let me tell you how _i_ imagined it. in wisconsin, i promised myself i would be honest with you about my feelings for you when i got back. and i stupidly hoped that something would change for the better and i was looking forward to senior year. instead, i find out that you decided to date my other best friend without telling me. do you know how much it sucks to be away from your best friends for months having a miserable time and then come back to what feels like the worst news since my mom died?”

emma unfolded her arms, her shoulders sagging in defeat before continuing, “the decent thing would’ve been to give me a heads up about you and ava before school started. finding out about the two of you in the parking lot on the first day is forever ingrained in my mind as the moment everything changed between us, and not in a good way. i was heartbroken and it felt like i lost the relationships i had with _both of you_ at the same time. _noah_ was a friend to me through all of that and was there for me all the times you weren’t this year.”

mason at least had the decency to look ashamed. “i’m sorry, emma. i’m not proud of how i handled my relationship with ava. but i broke up with her once i realized i might have a real chance with you, that you might actually feel the same way i do. i’m not sorry about taking a chance on that.”

emma let out a long sigh. even though it was everything she had wanted to hear from mason for the longest time, she was too emotionally exhausted to feel anything other than tired right then. “well, your timing sucked. i’ve been doing a lot of thinking and i realized something. since my mom died, i don’t think i cared to focus on what i wanted for once.” emma could see that mason was about to interrupt and raised a hand to stop him. “i don’t want to be an accessory to the story of your history with noah or your relationship with ava. i’m taking senior year into my own hands and changing what i can.”

mason’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. “what are you saying, em?”

“i’m didn’t come here to argue with you about homecoming or noah or ava. i came to say goodbye,” emma said, looking up from her hands to take in mason’s eyes that had just widened. “i’m transferring to another school starting next quarter. and i don’t think we should hang out for a while. maybe some time apart will help us figure out how to be just best friends again.”

_2 weeks earlier_

emma was already feeling more at home at berry high than she ever did at eastridge. it was only a couple of weeks but she already made a few friends. the yearbook editor-in-chief, jordan lee, who hadn’t given up trying to get her to join the cheerleading squad for winter quarter, band vice president myra, who wanted to hear all about her relationship drama at eastridge and set her up with someone at berry, and jordan’s boyfriend, michael, who had also been a huge help in helping her get up to speed on her photography skills. he was more into videography but some technical components like framing a shot and managing the lighting were things emma hadn’t really considered before. they both also made sure to introduce her to their friends and it was nice to be around people who created a supportive, rather than toxic, environment.

mason still came by at 7am every weekend for their jogs, but emma had started leaving at 6:30am so they wouldn’t cross paths. she meant what she said about not seeing him for a while and kept her replies to his texts short. it hurt and she missed her best friend, but it also meant she had more time to catch up on her photography and painting skills. and it’s not like she wasn’t busy. she was helping to paint the sets for the fall play and jordan’s friends dragged her to berry high’s football games every weekend.

noah was waiting by his bike in front of her house after school one day. they still texted even after she told him she was transferring but hadn’t really seen each other. to be honest, emma was kind of avoiding him after what happened at homecoming.

noah’s face was stoic as she approached but she thought she saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes. “can we talk?”

emma nodded. he drove them to the hill overlooking the city and they talked for a while about what happened at homecoming and everything that had happened at eastridge since she transferred. eventually, the conversation circled back to the one topic emma had been avoiding… “them.”

_1 week earlier_

“so, who are you going to be rooting for?” myra asked, earnestly. “hello? earth to price?”

emma’s gaze snapped up. “oh sorry, i don’t know yet. i’d be fine sitting with berry high but…”

“but mr. tall, dark, and brooding is playing for eastridge and wants to see you in his letterman jacket,” jordan teased, nudging emma’s shoulder playfully.

“oh my god this is just like a romantic movie…” myra stared off dreamily as emma hastily excused herself.

the game would be starting soon and emma had a decision to make. she stood in front of her locker, staring at the red and cream colored eastridge letterman jacket with the number 17 and thought back to the conversation she had with noah a week ago.

_“i don’t want to wait around for someone who doesn’t want to be with me. i deserve to be someone’s first choice,” noah said, softly. he had taken her to his favorite hill and they were sitting side-by-side on a blanket he had brought._

_emma fought the urge to scoot closer to him and lean into his shoulder. “i really like you noah, but there’s a lot i still don’t know about you and this beef you have with mason is concerning. i don’t want to get hurt.”_

_noah lifted her chin so she was looking him in the eyes. “i promise i’ll tell you what you want to know soon. and to be honest, you’re more likely to end up hurting me when you realize you’re better off without me.”_

_emma folded her arms over her chest. “i know how this story ends, noah. i saw_ ride or die _last year. you would totally pull a logan and end things because you’re ‘looking out for me’ and that would just… really hurt.”_

_noah just smiled. “good to know you’re team logan. i promise, i’m all in. no more secrets, no more running.”_

the bell signaling the end of the school day jolted emma out of her thoughts. he had handed his jacket to her and said she had a choice. she could wear it to the berry/eastridge game and cheer for him or she could give it back to him at the end of the game. either way, he would respect her decision. and as much as emma wished it wasn’t, it was decision time.

she grabbed the jacket and tied it around her waist before heading out to meet michael at the football field. she was helping him film the game from the sidelines, while taking photos for the yearbook as well. it wasn’t long before the stands were full, the cheerleaders from both schools were in formation, and the game was underway.

both teams were evenly matched and emma was furiously clicking away to get as many notable shots as possible from every angle around the field. she realized she was capturing moments for both schools, except her shots of eastridge were centered around a certain quarterback, who was calling plays and scoring touchdowns himself, running as though an angry mob with pitchforks was coming after him and his life depended on his ability to stay at least ten feet ahead of them. to be fair, it was football, so he was definitely being chased. eastridge was down by six points with the ball on their 30-yard line and one minute left in the fourth quarter. the game was pretty much over.

eastridge called a timeout and all the players came off the field. emma started reviewing the photos she had taken so far, making a mental note of which ones to review on a computer later when a shadow suddenly appeared overhead, blocking out the sun. she lifted her head slowly to find noah towering over her, with his sexy trademark smirk.

his eyes twinkled mischievously and emma felt the weight at her waist disappear and looked down to see that he had untied the jacket. he held it behind her without breaking eye contact. emma swallowed and put her hands inside the sleeves as noah pulled the jacket forward so it enveloped her berry high shirt.

“if i remember correctly, i asked you to make sure i could see you _wearing_ the jacket,” he murmured, leaning in by her ear.

emma blushed. “well, you know, i’m supposed to be taking pictures for berry high and well—” she was quickly interrupted by a searing kiss, followed by another, and another that left her slightly dizzy and out of breath.

“does this mean you’re all in?” he asked quietly after pulling away. his smirk was still there but emma could see the vulnerability in his eyes.

she smiled brightly and nodded. she realized she had known all along what she wanted and was finally ready to admit it. “you’re my first choice, noah.”

“good. i’ll see you after the game then, _babe_.” noah winked and jogged off to join his teammates. emma took a quick picture of the eastridge team huddle with the number 17 front and center to try to calm herself down.

_present day_

the two photos in front of her were so different from each other that she wasn’t sure how she could pick just one for her submission. they were both from the day of the berry high/eastridge football game, when noah became her boyfriend.

even emma was amazed at the clarity of the first photo, which perfectly captured the exact moment noah made a game-winning touchdown. emma remembered it happening as if it were in slow motion, and her fingers moved over the shutter of their own accord. with less than a minute left, noah picked up the fumbled ball that fell from his receiver and ran over 50 yards, dodging defenders left and right to get to the goal line. emma had captured the exact moment he leaped over a berry high defender to score the final touchdown that brought eastridge a win after being down six points. the best part was that even though she was standing at least 15 feet away, and the football team had pulled him into a mob and were trying to raise him up, emma could tell that noah was looking at her and she somehow just knew that he had scored that goal for _her_.

the second photo was less action-packed but just as, if not more, sentimental to emma. it was later that evening, when he took her to his favorite hill and held emma close, with her head resting on his chest. it was their first date since becoming boyfriend and girlfriend and emma thought that night was very poetic in a way. they were looking up at the stars in the sky, perfectly framed by the peaks of the surrounding trees and she couldn’t help but take a picture. she wanted to remember that moment forever. she remembered noah telling her about his parents’ first date being under the stars and was reminded of how the stars were part of her own parents’ love story. now it was part of theirs.

emma really had no clue how she was supposed to pick one. so she picked up the phone.

“hi babe.” emma heard noah’s husky (not to mention _sexy_ ) voice after two rings and blushed immediately.

“i am never going to get tired of hearing that and i can’t believe i get to call you my boyfriend,” emma sighed happily. “but i’m calling because i can’t decide which photo i want to submit to the contest,”

“i’ll be right there.” emma put her phone down and laid out the two photos and accompanying write-ups to both out on her bed while she waited.


	2. part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> emma and noah’s relationship continues to blossom and hit a few major milestones as they finish out their senior year of high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> author’s note: part 2 for “first choice.” there are mentions of characters from the freshman series (emily day, zig ortega, chris powell) – enjoy!  
> copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios.  
> series/pairing: my two first loves - noah harris x mc  
> rating/warnings: M for swearing and smut  
> word count: 4.9k  
> read part 1 if you haven’t.

**_first choice (part 2)_ **

_2 weeks later_

emma blew on her gloved hands to try to warm them up. she was wearing at least three layers, a scarf, boots, and she still felt the freezing cold in her bones. noah looked over at his shivering girlfriend and chuckled, putting his arm around her and rubbing her shoulders.

“how are you not cold?” emma whined, turning her body toward him to get as close to his body heat as possible.

“i’m always warm and it’s technically above freezing,” noah said, bending down to kiss her forehead.

berry high and eastridge had a partnership with a local community program that helped coordinate and fund group college visits. emma had volunteered to help coordinate schedules across schools. it took a little bit of convincing, and promising a _lot_ of kisses, but noah agreed to come on the trip. even though the NAUA scholarship didn’t pan out, emma was hoping that hartfeld’s second chance scholarship might still be an option for him.

“we’ll take a 15-minute break everyone, feel free to grab some coffee!” the tour guide announced as they approached the campus coffee shop.

“oh, thank god!” emma muttered, half-dragging noah with her as she raced to stand in line.

“hot chocolate or coffee?” noah asked, wrapping his arms around her waist once they got in line.

they approached the front as emma still debated her order. “vanilla latte, please!” she said, kissing him on the cheek before going to find a table.

she sat down next to the red-headed tour guide. “hey emily, how easy is it to find flexible part-time jobs on campus? my boyfriend’s a little worried about balancing everything.”

emily smiled. “first of all, you guys are such a cute couple. second, it’s pretty easy to find a job on campus or close to campus. but how to balance it all might be a better question for my boyfriend, zig, who took a full course load while playing football and working to support his family. i’ll see if he can take his break now.”

emily walked to the counter as noah came back with their drinks. emma accepted the warm mug gratefully and sighed as the latte warmed her cold fingers. noah slid in next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders.

the tall, tanned brunette barista sauntered over with emily, who quickly introduced everyone. emma shook zig’s hand and was surprised that he and noah went in for a fist bump.

“have you guys met?” emily asked, also seeming surprised.

zig nodded. “i helped prep noah for his interview with dean stafford for the second chance scholarship.”

emma’s eyes widened with recognition. “oh, you’re the one chris mentioned when i spoke to him about the scholarship!”

“chris powell? yeah, he’s one of our best friends and team captain. he showed me your film, noah, and we made sure to pass it on to coach with our recommendations. it was a no brainer, especially hearing about your story from emma,” zig said warmly as emily cuddled in close to his side.

emma tensed and looked down. a couple of weeks ago, the hartfeld football coach reached out to noah “out of the blue” and recommended he apply to hartfeld formally. that noah would be a top candidate for the second chance scholarship, so long as he was willing to play football for hartfeld and kept his grades up. the captain of the team then reached out and walked noah through the application process and connected him with zig to prep for the interviews, which _not-so-coincidentally_ aligned with the trip’s scheduled visit to hartfeld. of course, all of that happened after emma found chris’ contact information on the scholarship website and spoke to him about noah.

zig kept talking about how the scholarship changed his life and made it so he could finally pursue the college education he wanted and was able to put the stigma of his past behind him. noah asked zig if he could have a moment alone with him. emma bit her lip nervously as she walked away with emily to give them some privacy.

“is everything okay?” emily asked.

“um, well, he may or may not be mad at me for going behind his back and submitting his football film to chris. i came across the second chance scholarship during my research and thought it would be perfect for noah. i didn’t tell him about it because i didn’t want to get his hopes up,” emma said quickly, a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach.

“well, it sounds to me like he’s very lucky to have someone in his life who cares so much about him and his future. zig and chris also wouldn’t be here if someone didn’t give them a second chance. it inspired chris to create the scholarship, and i really hope things work out for you guys,” emily said reassuringly as zig and noah fist bumped. she walked over to give zig a kiss and emma watched apprehensively as noah approached her, his face thoughtful.

“i’m sorry for going behind your back, babe. you were just so upset about losing the NAUA scholarship, i didn’t want to get your hopes up but i did a lot of research and thought the second chance scholarship would be perfect, since it covers tuition, room and board, and books, with football and boxing fulfilling the activity requirement, so any extra money you make can be sent to your mom. i had to convince ava to help me sneak into the A/V office, and i owe michael a big favor since he put the highlight reel together quickly to make the deadline, so i didn’t have time to explain, and…” emma blurted out. “are you mad?”

noah gave her such a tender look that the tension in her body disappeared. “how could i be mad at my gorgeous, selfless girlfriend who found a way that i could go to college while dealing with her own applications? but i don’t like that you felt as though you needed to keep this a secret. i want us to be a team, okay?”

emma tilted her head up and leaned in to give him a soft kiss. “okay. and i couldn’t just _not_ help you. i care about you, babe. you mean a lot to me.”

noah lowered his head until his forehead was touching hers and closed his eyes. “what did i do to deserve you?”

she laughed. “you chose me, remember?”

“and you chose me,” noah said softly, leaving a kiss on her nose and lacing his fingers with hers as they left the coffee shop to rejoin the tour.

_4 weeks later_

emma was in front of her house at 7am, waiting for mason. she had texted him a few days ago asking if she could join him for a run. she was pleasantly surprised when he replied but she still wasn’t sure what to expect. she looked carefully at mason’s face as he jogged up to her house, trying to gauge his mood. he gave her a nod and she fell into place jogging beside him. when they finally reached the park and took a break, emma turned to face mason.

“thanks for hanging out with me again, i’ve missed you,” she said, her voice hopeful.

mason gave her a longing look before a small smile appeared on his face. “i’ve missed you too, em. i wish things could go back to normal with us, but i don’t think my feelings for you are going to go away anytime soon. and it hurts to think about you with noah.”

“i felt the same when you were with ava and i’m sorry if i hurt you. mason, you’ll always have a special place in my heart but i also really want my best friend back. i think we just maybe outgrew the old way we used to be friends with all the changes that happened this year, and with us going to different colleges and experiencing different things, maybe we just need to find a new way to be there for each other,” emma said slowly. she had given this a lot of thought over the last couple of months.

mason nodded thoughtfully, seeming to agree. “yeah, maybe we can talk over a milkshake?”

they spent the rest of the morning sharing a malted peanut butter milkshake and catching up on everything and anything. as the sun rose high in the sky, they decided to order food and continue talking like they used to, and emma was hopeful that they would be able to keep finding moments like this to reconnect even when school and life kept them miles apart.

* * * * *  
emma kept hitting the refresh button on her phone mail app for the results of the photo contest she was expecting to hear about. she was sitting in the park with noah, who was attempting to study for midterms but kept looking over at emma with amusement.

“staring at your phone isn’t going to make the results appear magically,” he teased.

emma put her phone down and sighed. “i know, i’m just really anxious.”

“come here,” noah said, putting his book aside and pulling emma on to his lap. he wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to draw her face closer to his. he left a line of kisses starting at her neck, working his way across her jaw, and up to her cheek. emma closed her eyes, tilting her chin toward noah so their lips could meet in a sweet kiss. she brought a hand up to the back of his neck and shifted so she could deepen the kiss when she heard the _ping!_ from her phone. she quickly climbed off noah’s lap to grab her phone and read the new email that had arrived.

“oh my god, i won! i can’t believe it!” emma shoved her phone in front of her boyfriend’s face, who quickly scanned the congratulatory email and broke out into a wide grin.

he stood up, pulling emma up with him so he could wrap his arms around her and swing her around. “congratulations, babe. i knew you could do it! remember what i said when we picked that one?” noah asked, setting her back down on the ground and peppering her face with kisses.

 _after an hour of reading her write-ups for both photo options and looking at each photo carefully, noah grabbed the first one and handed it back to emma. “you should use this one. your write-up definitely brings the viewer into the moment and make it seem like so much more happened than the moment itself. and personally, it means the most to me since i was thinking of you when i scored that touchdown. i was so happy you were finally mine, the adrenaline made me feel like i could do_ anything _,” he said, smiling fondly._

“how could i forget? i made sure to include it in my college applications because of that,” emma said, smiling.

_6 weeks later_

emma smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her navy fit-and-flare dress outside of the neighborhood restaurant noah first took her to when he asked her to homecoming. it quickly became a fixture for them as a date night spot, but tonight was going to be the first time she met his mom and sister. to say she was nervous was a huge understatement.

noah took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “there’s no need to be nervous, i promise,” he said gently, giving her a kiss on the cheek before leading her toward a booth in the back of the restaurant.

emma waved shyly as they approached the booth. “hi, mrs. harris; hazel. it’s really nice to meet you,” she greeted tentatively. she was surprised when mrs. harris stepped out of the booth and wrapped her up in a big hug.

“it’s so good to finally meet you, dear. i’m so glad you could join us to celebrate!”

the rest of the evening was pleasant as they recounted how noah got selected for the second chance scholarship. emma and noah held hands under the table throughout dinner, giving each other side glances and small smiles when they thought his family wouldn’t notice. noah looked pointedly in the other direction when they started sharing embarrassing childhood stories, and emma just laughed along until the conversation eventually transitioned to emma’s future.

“so, emma, what are your college plans?” mrs. harris asked.

she saw noah shift in his seat and avoid her gaze. she hadn’t made any decisions yet but they also hadn’t really talked about their relationship long-term.

“um, well, i plan on focusing on fine arts so i’m deciding between the california institute of design and columbia university in new york,” she replied quietly.

mrs. harris clapped her hands. “oh my, those sound prestigious! i’m sure your family would want you to stay close.”

emma smiled half-heartedly and nodded. “yeah, california would be much closer to home.” _but on the complete opposite side of the country from hartfeld_ , she thought glumly to herself.

dinner wrapped up shortly and after saying goodbye and promising to have dinner with them again soon, emma sat quietly in the drivers’ seat of her used SUV. her dad finally caved and bought her a car as an 18th birthday and congratulatory present after her acceptances came in. it was a safe, reliable car, perfect for the eventual long drives to and from college but emma was just glad to finally have a car of her own. emma looked over at noah with a twinge of sadness as she drove silently back to his house, stopping a couple blocks away so they could have some privacy.

“we should probably talk about what’s next for us, right?” she asked hesitantly.

noah shrugged. “we still have time before you have to decide. but honestly emma, i want you to make the decision that’s best for _you_. promise me you won’t factor me or our relationship into your decision.”

emma looked helplessly at how the moonlight seemed to sharpen the contours of noah’s face in the most romantic way; his eyes shining sincerely with every word he said. how could this kind, sensitive, gorgeous guy _not_ factor into her decision? she sighed and nodded, “i’ll try.”

he gave her a sympathetic but understanding look before taking off his seatbelt and reaching toward her. emma obliged, turning the engine off and climbing over the center console to straddle his lap. noah lowered his seat back, wrapping one arm around emma’s waist and the other around her neck, bringing her in for a kiss. emma sighed contentedly at the soft, sweet kisses that quickly grew heated. she ground her hips into his, trying to get her body as close to his as possible, as her hands tangled themselves in his hair. she moaned as he started kissing down her neck to suck gently on the soft patch of skin near her collarbone, one hand moving to palm her breast and the other trailing up the inside of her thigh.

they had agreed over winter break to go slow and that sex would be off the table for now, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still have fun. emma was starting to get addicted to his touch and wanted to speed up her readiness for _him_ even though logically she knew they needed to take their time; noah had more experience from his time in juvie but understood more than she did that he needed to go slow with _her_. they ended up meeting somewhere in the middle. emma let out a soft hiss as his fingers started stroking the fabric of her underwear and she ached to feel him inside. he pulled back to look in her eyes for permission and when she nodded, her lips swollen and eyes lidded, his finger dove underneath the fabric.

she could _sense_ the smirk on noah’s face before it appeared as her hips started grinding against his fingers of their own accord and crashed her lips into his. he quickly added a second finger and emma moaned against his mouth; she wanted _more_. as his fingers continued their steady strokes, she unzipped his jeans as fast as she could, cupping him in her hands through the fabric of his underwear before diving her hand beneath his waistband. she felt him stiffen even _more_ once she freed his cock from his pants and started stroking him; knowing that _she_ caused this reaction sent a thrill down her spine.

“noah, _please_ , i need more,” emma whimpered, rocking hard against his hand while trying to match him stroke for stroke.

“since you asked so nicely,” he murmured against her lips, pressing his thumb down on her clit and moving it in slow circles while maintaining his finger ministrations.

emma buried her face in his neck as she felt the pressure build below her hips; her body felt like it was on fire and she came apart shortly after, biting down gently on the patch of skin that connected noah’s neck to his shoulder to keep herself from screaming. panting slightly, she pulled back to look at him as he brought his fingers to his lips and began licking them. emma picked up the pace of her strokes and gave him a mischievous grin, leaning forward to capture one of his fingers in her mouth, tasting herself. noah’s eyes widened with surprise and she felt his cock twitch underneath her hand as she swirled her tongue around his finger. she moved back to lower her head to his cock.

he tried to pull her back up. “you don’t have to do that—” but she waved him off.

“just tell me what you want,” she winked, continuing her strokes as she started licking him playfully.

noah’s hips rose slightly. “you’re not going to have to do much, i’m close, babe. just keep doing— _that_ , _yes, god!_ ” true to his word, after a few measured tongue swirls in sync with her hand strokes, emma felt noah clench and release but not without moaning her name. she swallowed as much as she could and grabbed a tissue from the center console to clean up the rest, grinning wickedly at noah.

“you are definitely full of surprises,” he murmured, bringing her up so he could give her a kiss.

_8 weeks later_

emma stood in front of the refreshments table, trying to avoid constantly looking over to see if anyone was looking at her photos. but of course, she couldn’t help it and was glancing over every 15 seconds. she stopped when a pair of large, warm hands covered her eyes.

“guess who?”

she squealed and turned around to wrap her arms around noah’s neck. he had to take a step back to keep from falling over, and let his arms wrap naturally around her back. he leaned down to give her a quick kiss before she pulled away.

“thanks for coming, babe. let me walk you through it,” she said excitedly, grabbing his hand and whirling around quickly to lead him toward the wall where her photographs were on display at berry high’s end-of-year art show.

noah smiled and listened attentively as emma explained the themes she was going for and why she chose each photo and placed it where she did. he glanced over at the photos as she was explaining, but he cared more about observing the way her eyes lit up as she talked about something particularly moving, the way she tapped her chin when she was gathering her thoughts, or when a light pink blush appeared on her cheeks when she glanced over and caught him looking at her.

it wasn’t long before her family, ava, mason, and berry high friends arrived and she moved to greet them, giving them a similar rundown of her photos. noah took a couple steps back to observe the photos from a distance; he wasn’t that into art but could tell that emma had a real talent. of course, someone might say he was biased since her award-winning photo, which happened to feature him, was front-and-center.

“hey noah, how’s it going?” noah turned to his right to find mason standing next to him, looking up at emma’s photos.

“jennings. i’m good.” he really wasn’t one for small talk. “i’m glad you made it; emma’s been looking forward to seeing your reaction since you’ve always supported her photography hobby.”

mason turned to him, eyebrow raised. “thanks, i appreciate that. she used to always carry her mom’s camera with her everywhere.” he paused and noah, who always found a way to extract himself from conversations when the predictable lull approached, took a sip of his drink.

“i know we’ve had our differences but i just wanted to thank you for being there for emma. she means a lot to me, and she seems happy with you. just don’t hurt her,” mason said, putting a hand on noah’s shoulder as he turned away.

noah held mason’s gaze for a brief moment and nodded. mason gave him a nod in return and walked away. noah wasn’t sure if they would ever be friends, but he knew mason was always going to be in emma’s life, and at least now the two of them had an understanding.

the crowd was starting to thin out as the evening wore on, and soon it was just him and emma. he put an arm around her waist and brought her closer. “i’m really proud of you. your photos are amazing,” he said, leaning down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. emma felt herself flush from the compliment.

“wait, i have one more thing i want to show you,” she ducked below the refreshments table to pull out a horizontal picture frame. she tucked it behind her back. “turn around and close your eyes!”

noah chuckled but obeyed; even though he was tempted to peek, he preferred seeing emma’s eager expression when she was waiting for his reaction to something. “okay, you can open them now!”

where her photos were before now hung a series of five photos, individually framed, but connected in a large horizontal design. noah stepped closer to look at the photos, there was the goofy one of them from homecoming, the selfie they took under the stars after emma agreed to be his girlfriend, and a few others. he looked over at emma, who looked giddy, prompting his eyebrow to quirk up in interest.

emma leaned forward to flip a switch hidden on the side. it was then that noah noticed a cord from the frame that was plugged in to the outlet below. when he looked back up, a soft light came from each individual photo, lighting up the letters **_P R O M ?_** in script.

noah stood there with his jaw open slightly, stunned. “wha-? aren’t i supposed to ask _you_ to prom?”

emma shifted her weight nervously. “well, i wasn’t sure if you wanted to go to eastridge prom and since i’m at berry high, i figured i should do the asking. and i wanted to surprise you since, you know…” she trailed off and noah raised his eyebrow at her expectantly. emma blushed and looked down at her feet. “you said before that you liked that i could surprise you. i just want to make sure i keep you interested.”

he wrapped his arms around her to pull her in for a kiss. “you just keep being you, there’s plenty to like.”

“wait, is that a yes?” emma pulled back to look up at him.

noah just chuckled. “like i could ever say no to you.”

* * * * *  
emma couldn’t have imagined a more magical night, as stereotypical and cliché as that sounded. berry high had outdone itself with their prom theme, “the royal masquerade,” and the sparkly gold and silver décor. she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she took in the balloon archway and the gold and silver painted vase centerpieces filled with red and yellow roses on each table. masks and crowns surrounded the vases, along with disposable cameras and costume jewelry, easily serving double duty as décor and photo props.

she turned her head to look at her absolutely handsome boyfriend. he wore a fitted black suit and bowtie with a boutonniere that matched the deep red of her dress and corsage. even though they had coordinated their outfits, she was still stunned when he came to pick her up. she had forgotten how good he looked in a suit. she kept sneaking glances at his profile the entire ride over (he drove them in her car after she made it clear she was not going to ruin her hair and makeup by riding on his motorcycle to prom), wondering how she got so lucky with noah.

“you’ve been staring at me all night, you okay?” he asked, holding out his arm for her as they stepped through the doors of the ballroom.

emma looped her hand in the crook of his elbow, hoping he didn’t notice how she lingered on his bicep. “you just look so handsome tonight,” she said, sighing happily.

noah smirked. “i think you’re the one who steals the show. you are absolutely gorgeous tonight, baby. dance with me?” he grabbed her hand and extended his arm, inviting her to twirl under it. emma giggled as she let him spin her around, the long skirt of her dress billowing out elegantly, before he put his arm around her waist and led her to the dance floor.

after taking their prom photos, dancing with her berry high friends, and enjoying the evening overall, noah quietly led emma toward one of the ballroom balconies. they stepped outside and let the night breeze cool them down.

“did you want to take a break?” emma asked, feeling grateful that she could lean against the railing and take some of the pressure off her stilettos.

noah didn’t answer but just looked at her softly as he rested his arms on the railing on either side of her, enveloping her in his arms. “i just wanted a little bit of quiet to admire my amazing girlfriend. i can’t believe we’ve been together six months already. it seems like not that long ago that we were dancing at homecoming.”

emma felt herself blush. “you are being really romantic tonight, you know that?” she said softly, placing her hand on his cheek and gently stroking it with her thumb. noah leaned down until their foreheads touched and emma felt an overwhelming warmth bloom from her heart and spread across her chest. in that moment, wrapped up in the tender way noah was holding her, she couldn’t help but feel safe and loved. she knew her feelings had progressed for a while now but wasn’t sure if she should wait for noah to say it first. her heart told her that she needed to seize this moment.

“i love you.”

noah’s eyes widened slightly. _did she just say—?_ he blinked a couple times before a wide grin broke out on his face, his eyes lighting up with happiness. “you mean it?” emma nodded, smiling shyly. “i love you too. i’ve wanted to say it for a while now but you beat me to it,” he said, cupping her face in his hands and leaning down to give her a deep, loving kiss.

emma beamed and knew she was never going to forget this night for the rest of her life.

* * * * *  
summer came and went, filled with graduations (lots of tears all around as noah walked across the stage, with mrs. harris squeezing emma’s hand tightly) and grad parties, working part-time to have spending money for college, and registering for classes and planning out the road trip to school. but emma’s favorite part of the summer was how she finally got to spend it hanging out with ava at the mall like old times, reminiscing with mason at his treehouse or at the beach, helping mack find ways to express her art more productively, and going on _lots_ of dates with noah. despite the memories she made that more than made up for missing out last summer, emma was ready to step forward into her future.

noah secured his motorcycle to the tow dolly attached to the back of emma’s car as she crammed in another box in the backseat. “that’s the last box, right?”

emma nodded, glad her dad got her a car that was big enough for both of their stuff but small enough that she shouldn’t have issues finding parking in the city. she watched as noah went back into the house to say his goodbyes and sent her dad a quick text update that they were getting on the road. their goodbye earlier that morning had been brief; he wasn’t thrilled that she was driving cross-country with noah, but agreed to trust her as long as she sent him updates every couple of hours and called him once she arrived at their scheduled stops.

she climbed into the car and put on her seatbelt, waving goodbye to noah’s mom who was waiting in the doorway. noah gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and climbed into the passenger seat. emma turned the key in the ignition and looked over at noah. “ready?”

“wait, not yet.” he leaned over and cupped her face in his hands before giving her a long, deep kiss. “i love you. now i’m ready.”

emma rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “i love you, too.”

she carefully pulled the car out of the driveway, following her phone’s gps toward the highway. she couldn’t help but glance over at noah’s profile next to her, wondering how she got so lucky. noah held out his hand and emma laced her fingers with his over the center console. he pulled their intertwined hands together to leave a soft kiss on the back of her hand, and when he looked back up at her, he was beaming. emma felt a feeling of gratitude and love swell within her for this wonderful man who chose her first.

**Author's Note:**

> i appreciate any comments you may have - to find this on tumblr, feel free to check out my writing/art reblogs @homeformyheart.


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